Flood watch issued west of Bexar County

Updated 11:35 am, Friday, June 14, 2013

A flood watch has been issued for areas west of Bexar County, with some areas expected to get as much as six inches of rainfall.

Bandera and Medina counties are among the areas under the flood watch, which is in effect until 7 p.m. Friday.

Deep moisture and a tropic-like environment traveling north from northern Mexico are producing the chance for heavy rains, which will hit areas between Medina and Hondo the hardest, said Constantine Pashos with the National Weather Service.

San Antonio will get rain, too, but it likely will be under an inch.

“There's a slight chance it might be one to two,” Pashos said.

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Bands of showers reached the city early Friday, and that likely will continue throughout the day and into the evening. Rain chances should diminish by Saturday to about 20 percent. Father's Day on Sunday should be partly sunny and dry.

Fire officials urged residents to avoid driving on roadways should they become submerged in water.

On Wednesday alone, the department received four calls for high water rescues. Though none resulted in rescues, it shows motorists are still driving through flooded areas, fire spokesman Christian Bove said.

“Even in relatively shallow water, tires can act as flotation devices, lifting up even big vehicles and sending them downstream,” Bove wrote in a prepared statement. “Your vehicle may stall out in as little as three inches of water and two feet of water is enough to float a 3,000-pound car.”

He stressed that driving through flooded roadways risks not only the lives of those inside a vehicle but also the lives of first responders.

Moving a barricade carries a maximum penalty of $2,000 and 180 days in jail. If a rescue is required, everyone in the vehicle may be charged a fee of $400.

During the flooding over the Memorial Day weekend, SAFD received more than 250 calls for high water rescues, which resulted in about 130 actual rescues. Police issued 34 citations to motorists for moving or driving around a high water barricade.